Some devices, especially thermal equipment, as well as most food stuff, often require a precise and stable thermal and humidity environment. However, due to normal use, e.g., opening and closing a room door for entering and exiting, or for insertion and extraction of material such as food stuff from the room or a container, the internal environment of such a room/container is constantly disrupted. Accordingly, a need exists for a system having the ability to maintain an essentially constant temperature while keeping a humid environment.
The maintenance of an essentially constant temperature and humidity is critical when handling food stuff: applying too much dry heat might harden the food, and too much moist heat might condense on the food and make it soggy. Common heat units used in the food industry have horizontal racks, and often present the problem of overheating and drying food placed on the upper racks, while food on the lower racks experiences condensation and insufficient heating.
Another application of such humidity and temperature generating systems is in the bakery industry, which requires thawing frozen dough and subsequently rising the dough. Usually, the dough is delivered to bakeries in a frozen state, already in the shape of the final product. In the bakery, the dough is then thawed, let to rise, and baked. Although this procedure has many advantages, in order to obtain consistent quality products, it is essential that the thawing process is accurately controlled. Specifically, accumulation of moisture in the frozen dough pieces, and/or inadequate thawing may lead to inferior quality products. This problem is aggravated when the thawing environment constantly varies. Another problem arises when thawing in the same room different products having various shapes and sizes, which inherently require different thawing conditions.
U.S. Pat. No. 8,844,432 describes dough conditioning devices for thawing frozen dough pieces, said devices comprise a closed case with inner trays for placing the dough thereon, humidity and heat supply system(s), and a dough conditioning gas supply system. U.S. Pat. No. 6,369,362 describes a single and double sided ventless humidity cabinet. CN 103548910 describes a constant temperature and humidity fermenting box.
Accordingly, a need exists for a device and system that can generate essentially constant temperature and humidity within a room for thawing dough and/or proving the necessary conditions for its rising, in a reduced thawing and rising time.
Another food industry utilizing humidity and temperature generating systems is the dates industry, which often requires the hydrating of dates to meet commercial standards: dates with a water content of about 27-28% are considered as first grade fruit, and do not need additional artificial hydration. However, when the water content of the dates is considerably lower, an artificial process of hydration has to be carried out, or else such dates might not be marketable. Conventional practice in hydrating dates requires a long exposure to humidified atmosphere. In such conventional practice the dates are graded according to dryness and placed on trays in single layers. The trays are then placed on a rack in a steam room, where light steam is bubbled therein via water on the floor. Since such rooms are often not air-tight, there is a constant loss of heat and steam. In addition, it is necessary to shift the trays continuously, so that dates located in the upper trays and lower trays will become equally hydrated.
Experience has shown that the artificial hydrating period ranges from 8 to 36 hours, but usually no less than 24 hours in order to obtain adequate results (first graded dates). It has also been shown that the hydration duration can be reduced by raising the temperature. However, increased temperature might have undesirable effects, such as “caramelizing” the dates, and rupturing and curling of the skin.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,591,213 describes a process and device for hydrating dates, which involves the step of removing most of the atmospheric air from the room and inserting water vapor at a defined temperature range.
US 2013/274930 describes a control system for governing temperature and humidity levels within a confined space by controlling existing cooling-, heating-, and duct-systems, using a plurality of temperature and humidity sensors.
US 2002/089075 describes a steamed humidifier for use together with air heating systems, said humidifier includes a steam nozzle connected to a water feed line coiled around a heating element.
Accordingly, a need exists for a device and system that can generate essentially constant temperature and humidity within a room for hydrating dates in a reduced hydrating time while providing uniformly high quality dates.
The present invention provides such systems and devices suitable for generating essentially constant temperature and humidity within a room and can be utilized for a variety of applications, including hydrating dates and thawing and rising dough.